Indian shares tumble on declines in tech firms, Bajaj Finserv
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BENGALURU -India's blue-chip stock indexes saw hefty losses for a third straight session on Thursday as inflation and policy tightening fears continued to pressure technology stocks, while heavyweight Bajaj Finserv dropped after reporting a lower quarterly profit.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended 1.01% lower at 17,757 and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.06% to 59,464.62, both registering their lowest closing level in two weeks.
The indexes have fallen nearly 4% from the three-month peaks touched earlier this week, with analysts saying that a correction was due ahead of India's federal budget.
The Nifty and Sensex are still up around 8% from the lows seen in December and around 4.5% off the record highs touched in October.
Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, fell 1.8% ahead of its quarterly results due late on Friday.
IT majors Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services tumbled 2.3% each, dragging the Nifty IT index to its lowest level in a month, after the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell into a correction territory on Wednesday. [.N]
Nifty component Bajaj Finserv, a holding company for financial services businesses including non-bank lender Bajaj Finance, sank 4.5% to a more than two-week low after its quarterly net profit slipped.
Automaker Bajaj Auto slid 3.7% on reporting a bigger-than-expected fall in profit.
Non-bank lender PTC India Financial services saw its worst plunge in nearly seven years as it sank 18.5% after saying three of its independent directors resigned citing lapses in corporate governance.
Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever dropped 2.1% ahead of its quarterly results.
